The 2010 Haiti Earthquake
Location: The epicentre was located near the town of Léogâne, which is approximately 25 kilometres west of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. (See figure 1.1)
Date/time: 16:53 local time on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010.
Description of the event
The earthquake was caused by a “blind thrust” fault action along the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system, which had been building up stress for the past 250 years. A blind fault is a rupture in a lithospheric plate that does not reach the surface of the Earth. According to researchers from the University of Colorado, the rupture was “approximately 65 kilometers long” accompanied by lateral movement of 1.8 meters on average. The event recorded a magnitude 7.0 and an intensity associated with the IX category of the Modified Mercalli scale.
Impacts
The 7.0 earthquake killed an estimated 240,000 people, injured another 300,000, and left more than 1 million people homeless. These numbers are staggering in comparison to its magnitude. In comparison, only 63 people were killed and 4000 injured after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in San Francisco in 1989. Some of the reasons for this include the shallow focus, the event taking place in a heavily populated area, and the poor economic status of Haiti. Devastation to this developing nation was inevitable due as Haiti suffered from lack of a seismic protection building code, poor foundation of buildings, and poor building materials. Many buildings were made using
On January twelfth 2010, a deadly earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit the coast of Port au prince, Haiti for 35 seconds, killing around 200,000 and leaving approximately to 1.5 million of the population homeless including kids who became orphans and vice versa in a matter of less than a minute. Before the earthquake, the way of life was not as bad as portrayed back at home, most of the news broadcasted in the mainstream media were exaggerated news, negative light and unfair tales to make Haiti look inferior.
NEW YORK—Starkies-Davis announced today a total donation of $8 million to organizations providing direct help to victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Starkies-Davis clients generated $6 million through global trading commissions
It’s not simple to explain how hard something is when most people haven’t experienced before. How many times do we hear or see a problem on the news occurring in the world? Sometimes we’re not sure what we can do to help people in their country. Haitians shouldn’t continue to live how they’re living their life today. We should help by making a difference in their lives for things that can be improved such as employment, healthcare, education, government, and numerous other things that can be different yet beneficial for these people. With the help and support of other people we will be able restore superb quality of life to them.
On January 12, 2010 on of the world’s deadliest earthquakes struck Haiti. In his book, Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti, Mark Schuller analyzes the presence of humanitarian aid agencies following the disaster. He discusses the impacts the aid had on the environment, development and globalization of Haiti.
The 9th of February 1971 an earthquake occurred in the lower parts of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. The San Fernando earthquake was measured to have a magnitude of around 6.5, which caused severe damage to buildings and major freeways in the Los Angeles area. Two huge health care buildings in San Fernando caused the majority of deaths when they collapsed at both sides. The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the mountains and the most severe damages occurred in northern San Fernando Valley. However, the event impacted other densely populated areas in Los Angeles and caused huge difficulty for transportation as a result of failure in several roadways and freeway interchanges.
In 2010, a devastating earthquake hit Haiti. Desiree LaFave was one of four oregon midwives to respond. She was on the first plane into Haiti, alongside doctors and other midwives. Desiree LaFave should be recognised as a hero for her bravery, passion, and determination.
Haiti is located in the Caribbean between the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. It is located west of the Dominican Republic on the western third of Hispaniola.This means that Haiti is bordered by water on three out of its four sides. The terrain of Haiti is mostly mountainous. Elevation ranges from 0 meters at the Caribbean Sea to 2,680 meters at Chaine de la Selle. The land area is 27,560 square kilometers which makes Haiti slightly smaller in size than Maryland. With a population of 10,485,800 people the distribution is relatively even. However, there are higher concentrations of people located along the coastlines. (CIA, 2017)
On January 12th, 2010, the small country of Haiti was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated the city of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas (Haiti earthquake of 2010, 2015). The 30-second disaster was just the beginning of a collection of aftershocks that then struck the country relentlessly for days (Haiti earthquake of 2010, 2015). Many areas were reduced to rubble leaving approximately one million Haitians homeless and 350 000 dead and another 300 000 injured (Haiti earthquake of 2010, 2015). The ill-prepared country was sitting on two tectonic plates- the Caribbean and the North American, where there was slippage resulting in the earthquake (KS3 Bitesize Geography). Following the environmental catastrophe, the international community responded, and a relief effort began (Haiti earthquake of 2010, 2015).
Earthquakes have afflicted the world since its inception. The sudden release of energy from volcanoes or displacing of earth plates can result in disasters of extreme magnitude. These usually naturally occurring phenomenon have been responsible from wiping out entire towns throughout history and until today continue to produce major loss of life and infrastructure. It can take years for a city or country to recover from a major event of this kind and when a third world country is involved, the result is usually exponentially worse than in a developed country. In the past decades Japan, Chile and Haiti have suffered the devastation an earthquake produces. This document will concentrate in Haiti, a small country in the Caribbean. On
The article says that the 2010 Haiti earthquake was worse than the 2011 Japan earthquake. It says ”Obviously the toll in Japan was much worse. But it’s not: The losses in Haiti amount to perhaps twice the GDP there”. Although there was both an earthquake and tsunami in Japan while only an earthquake in Haiti, the earthquake in Haiti was much worse. The natural disaster that hit Haiti caused many more injuries, deaths, and people left homeless, therefore it is much worse.
The earthquake was caused by the sudden collision of the eurasian and philippine tectonic plates. The earthquake travelled up a faultline in the plate that
The earthquake occurred on the 12th of January 2010, a slip along the conservative boundary situated along Haiti caused a significant earthquake with subsequent damaging aftershocks. As can be seen in figure 1 the shaking intensity was strongest at the epicentre of the
Tiny dots of white against the plant-covered landscape (red in this image) are possible landslides, a common occurrence in mountainous terrain after large earthquakes. The Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone runs along the two linear valleys at the top of the imageThe magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake occurred inland,
The 2010 earthquake that took place in Haiti was a natural disaster which caused massive destruction to the environmental, social, economic, political and physical structure of the country.
On January 12th, 2010 there was an earthquake in Haiti, with its epicentre near the town of Léogâne , approximately 25 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. It had a magnitude of 7.0. This left 220,000-316,000 dead and 300,000 people injured. 1.5 million People were initially displaced. The people displaced were placed into 1500 different camps. In these horrible conditions most would think that the high density would be the prime factor.